This regular post from the Alliance of Independent Authors celebrates ALLi member successes to inspire our indie author community. Our ALLi Member Milestones, June 2025, celebrate the successes of author members Cliff Lovette, Suzanne Lissaman, Linda Browne, Matty Dalrymple, Michael La Ronn, Kathryn Holme, Mark Leslie Lefebvre, Judy L. Mohr, Brock Stephen Henning, and Debbie Carroll. Congratulations to all those featured in this month’s roundup and to everyone in our community who has hit a milestone!
Do you have a member milestone to share?
We are always looking to hear from our members about your achievements, from those of you who are just setting out to our most experienced Authorpreneurs. Whatever your achievement, if you are a member of ALLi, please tell us about your success stories using this form. We will share a selection each month with our members and our wider indie author network.
Cliff Lovette
Cliff Lovette
Debut author and storyteller from Atlanta, Georgia. Dog lover (London). You can find him on Facebook.
Member Milestone
Finished manuscript of debut novel and submitted to proofreader. I have been working on this project for 3+ years and found my calling.
What Have You Learned?
That I have a steep learning curve in terms of marketing, promotion, production, and sales.
Suzanne Lissaman
Suzanne Lissaman
Suzanne Lissaman writes award-winning romantic comedies about strong women trying to live their best lives. You can find her on Facebook and Instagram.
Member Milestone
Winning the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Romantic Comedy Award 2025. I’m honoured to win this award as an indie author, especially with such a strong set of finalists including a traditionally published New York Times bestseller. It’s a win for indie publishing, not just my book.
What Have You Learned?
That as well as being a validation of your work, an award can give your book extra visibility.
Linda Browne
Linda Browne
Linda Browne is an LGBTQ+ author of edgy science fiction fantasy and historical fiction for upper middle grade and YA readers. You can learn more at lindabrowne.ca.
Member Milestone
My debut novel, Shadow Apprentice, was a Finalist in the 2024 Wishing Shelf Awards. As a children's writer, I usually interact with my audience indirectly through adult gatekeepers. Through this award, I got direct feedback from the kids themselves. To know that I've written a book that resonates with kids is the thing I'm most proud of.
What Have You Learned?
Never give up. I was initially invited to submit this book to a prominent agent via a shared contact, but I didn’t know I was suffering from severe brain inflammation due to long COVID, and submitted a jumble of scenes. For about a year, I was too sick to read or write, but I slowly rebuilt my writing practice, learned about indie publishing, and eventually re-wrote and released Shadow Apprentice on May 24, 2024. Shadow Apprentice will go down as being the hardest book I almost never wrote—so I guess I'm proud of that, too.
Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn
Matty Dalrymple and Michael La Ronn
Matty Dalrymple podcasts, writes, speaks, and consults on the writing craft and the publishing voyage as The Indy Author. M. L. Ronn (Michael La Ronn) writes science fiction, fantasy, and how-to books for writers and shares his advice on his Author Level Up platform. You can find Matty at The Indy Author, on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find Michael at Author Level Up, on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Member Milestone
We coauthored the nonfiction book Collaborate to Create: A Guide to Coauthoring Nonfiction. We're proud to have coauthored Collaborate to Create because it reflects the very spirit of the book—creative partnership. Bringing our complementary skills and perspectives together not only strengthened the final product but also deepened our appreciation for the power of collaboration in nonfiction writing.
What Have You Learned?
We learned that successful coauthoring is built on trust, communication, and a shared vision. By embracing each other’s strengths and staying flexible throughout the process, we were able to create a book that neither of us could have written alone. The experience reinforced that collaboration isn’t just about dividing tasks—it’s about multiplying impact.
Kathryn Holme
Kathryn Holme
Kathryn Holme is a playwright, flash fiction writer, and children’s picture book author. You can find her online at linktr.ee/kathrynholme.
Member Milestone
Captain Kit was Commended in the Self-Published Book category at the Scottish Association of Writers conference in March 2025. This is my first self-published book, and I am thrilled with the award and the positive feedback given by the adjudicator.
What Have You Learned?
That self-publishing can lead to recognition and success.
Matty Dalrymple and Mark Leslie Lefebvre
Matty Dalrymple and Mark Leslie Lefebvre
Matty Dalrymple podcasts, writes, speaks, and consults on the writing craft and the publishing voyage as The Indy Author. Mark Leslie Lefebvre is the host of the Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing podcast and an author, speaker, and consultant with more than 30 years of industry experience. You can find Matty at The Indy Author, on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. You can find Mark at markleslie.ca, on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Member Milestone
We coauthored the nonfiction book for creatives The Podcast Guest Playbook: Turning Conversations into Connections and Community. We’re proud of The Podcast Guest Playbook because it brings together our shared passion for helping authors amplify their voices and connect authentically with audiences. By combining our experiences as both podcast hosts and guests, we created a resource that empowers others to turn podcast conversations into meaningful community and career growth.
What Have You Learned?
As both podcast hosts and guests, we’ve learned how a thoughtful, well-prepared appearance can spark meaningful conversations, grow communities, and open unexpected doors. This project reinforced our belief that podcasting isn’t just about promotion—it’s about genuine engagement.
Judy L. Mohr
Judy L. Mohr
Kiwi Judy L. Mohr helps writers claim the title of writer by day but is scouting for locations to hide the bodies by night. Her debut novel Dancing in the Purple Rain is released to the wild in August 2025. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky.
Member Milestone
Judy is one of 10 writers to be named “New Voices of Aotearoa” for the inaugural 2025 awards. And the judges called Judy a “dynamic new voice in speculative fiction.” For Judy, this award is a sign of validation. After years (over a decade) of working to hone her skills, it's a sense of validation to be given this honor.
What Have You Learned?
The biggest lesson is that you can't give up. If you believe in yourself, then things will happen. It might take years (over a decade in my case), but it will happen. Just believe in the work you are doing.
Brock Stephen Henning
Brock Stephen Henning
Brock Stephen Henning has written for the inspirational market, with his latest works geared for readers of children’s and middle-grade fiction. He lives in Colorado with his wife, Sarah, and together they raised three kids who love stories, adventures, and all the cool things that children’s books inspired them to be. You can find him at brockhenning.com, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.
Member Milestone
My debut middle grade book HACKERS: Worm Eater reached #1 on Amazon’s Hot New Releases in Children’s Books on Entertainment and Games during its first week. HACKERS: Worm Eater is the first book in my HACKERS interactive gamebook series where YOU choose your path in a cyber mystery adventure with 23 possible endings. I'm most proud of the supporters of my writing who have encouraged me through many years of ups and downs while working to hone the craft. I'm especially grateful to those who continued to believe in me through the many times I had decided to quit.
What Have You Learned?
Publishing a quality book as an independent author is absolutely possible. I have nothing against traditional publishing, but I was hitting one roadblock after another querying agents and publishers for the niche middle grade choose-your-own-path genre of my book. I almost gave up on the entire thing, then I asked myself, “What have I got to lose?” I came away with an enormous amount of experience on what it takes to publish a book by doing it myself, and I have full confidence now in doing it again as I start writing the second book in the series.
Debbie Carroll
Debbie Carroll
Debbie Carroll is a garden designer and co-author of the Why Don't We Go into the Garden? series of books and tools. These evidence-based resources support care homes and garden designers in creating actively used and meaningful gardens to benefit the residents who live there. You can find her at stepchange-design.uk, on LinkedIn, Bluesky, X, and Facebook.
Member Milestone
Our Care Culture Map and Handbook, first published in 2016, has recently been adopted by a large care home group and incorporated into their annual garden competition. This signals a major shift in practice and recognition of our research. We were also interviewed and quoted in a newly published book in Norway on elderly Montessori care. These recent successes confirm that our niche, practical approach is creating meaningful change despite limited mainstream uptake.
What Have You Learned?
Our work was quite radical in what it covered and how we shared it, and we now know we were ahead of our time. Sometimes you have to wait for others to be ready to hear what you have to share. It feels like our time is here with our care home readers, while this reminds us to continue to be patient with our garden designer readers, whose book in the series wasn't published until 2020. Finding ALLi has helped hugely, filling major gaps in understanding, focus, and actions to support sharing our books.
Not yet an ALLi member?
The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) is a global membership association for self-publishing authors. A non-profit, our mission is ethics and excellence in self-publishing.
Everyone on our team is a working indie author and we offer advice and advocacy for self-publishing authors within the literary, publishing, and creative industries around the world. All the membership options and benefits, including free access to our collection of self-publishing advice ebooks, are on our website. Take a look and join us today.
Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?
If you’re an ALLi member, head over to the SelfPubConnect forum for support from our experienced community of indie authors, advisors, and our own ALLi team. Simply create an account (if you haven’t already) to request to join the forum and get going.
Non-members looking for more information can search our extensive archive of blog posts and podcast episodes packed with tips and advice at ALLi's Self-Publishing Advice Center.
